State finance minister Rameshwar Oraon said on Sunday that land acquired for industrial or developmental purposes should be returned to the displaced if it remained unused or a specific period, advising his own government headed by Hemant Soren to begin the exercise with Heavy Engineering Corporation (HEC) in Ranchi.

Addressing a rally organised by 32 displaced villages in the HEC area on Ranchi outskirts, Oraon said, “Rourkela steel plant has returned about 5,000-acre land to the Odisha government. The Jharkhand government should also adopt this practice to take back land from companies here. Being a minister, I am appealing to the Hemant government to begin the process of taking back land from HEC.”

The comments of Oraon, who is also the state Congress president, is significant in a state like Jharkhand where land has always been a contentious issue. The previous government of Raghubar Das had to face the wrath of tribals and thousands of displaced after he unsuccessfully tried to amend age-old tenancy laws during his stint between 2014-19.

Oraon accused the PSU for acting as a landlord by selling and leasing out land that was acquired decades to private parties.

“Jharkhand wasn’t formed when HEC was set up but it was given vast acres of land in Ranchi by the government for industrial purposes. Thousands of people too got displaced in the process. While the displaced living in about 32 villages are battling for basic amenities, HEC has begun selling/leasing out land to others. Are they the real landowners? The answer is no. Why is it (HEC) then behaving like a landlord? Whatever land that is lying unused should now be taken back,” Oraon said.

Local residents of the HEC area during a rally in Ranchi on Sunday. Telegraph picture

He said that during his stints as chairperson of the National Commission for Scheduled Tribes between 2010 to 2017, he ensured that the provision of returning unused land was included in the Land Acquisition Act-2013.

“Recently, baby steps have been initiated after the state government here took back some 40-acre land from NTPC in Hazaribagh after it remained unutilised for more than five years. The Land Acquisition Act-2013 specifies time-bound work on the acquired land. Or else the acquisition can be cancelled. We have to implement it in the interest of tribal and other land losers,” he stressed.

Mandar MLA Bandhu Tirkey, who has been mobilising over 20,000 displaced living in 32 villages in the HEC region, said the rally was aimed at initiating a renewed fight for their long-pending demands. “We have two key demands from the government—formation of a commission for displaced, and implementation of the Land Acquisition Act-2013,” he said over the phone.

“About 25,000 people were displaced for setting up HEC, but the government records today only have details of about 400 people. Not only this, many even got displacement benefits and compensation till date while the places where they live are in neglected condition as HEC never cared for them. So, we are demanding setting up of a commission, which will be a constitutional body, to address issues of all those who were is placed,” he added.